


Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

by webcricket



Category: Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 07:23:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11352642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webcricket/pseuds/webcricket
Summary: A short drabble where the reader has trouble sleeping. Mild angst with mentions of sleeplessness and anxiety/nightmares. Also, serious fluff courtesy of the sweetest seraph ever.





	Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

The unseasonably cool evening air kissed the still sunlight warmed asphalt, raising a gauzy mist to swirl about your feet as you strolled the deserted roadside. So cold was the night, even the song of the crickets, toads, owls, and other melodic denizens of the wee hours were numbed to silence. Only your deep rhythmic breath, billowing out before you in swiftly dissipating grey clouds, and the soft cadence of your footfalls disturbed the hush – all the world seemed asleep save yourself. Nights like these, when the dread of anxious disquiet dreams and nightmares seized you before you could so much as close your eyes to begin the search for rest, you found a semblance of peace in this waking walking solitude.

The familiar welcome ruffle of celestial wings tickled your ears mere milliseconds before you felt the buckled sleeve of a trench coat lightly brush the back of your hand. You subtly shivered, but not from the cold or the unexpectedness of his arrival.

“Y/N?” the gravel-throated angel uttered your name, concern palpable in the gruff quality of his tone.

Arresting your forward march, you idly rubbed your goose-bump prickled arms vigorously to ward off the creeping coolness pervading your bones. Lifting your chin, you greeted the worried twinkle of his questioning sapphire gaze with a smile warmly defiant of the chill, “Hey Cas. Beautiful night, isn’t it?”

“Is it?” he peered skeptically into the darkness enveloping you both. Not finding anything especially remarkable in the increasingly nippy churning haze, his regard returned to contemplate your blueish lips, “You appear to be improperly dressed for the weather, aren’t you cold?”

Glancing down at your thin cotton t-shirt and ripped jeans, you silently supposed that yes, you were more than a bit chilled at present.

“How long have you been out here?”

“You’re just full of questions tonight,” you murmured, the observation leaving your trembling lips with an amused lilting vibrato, “I don’t know. A few minutes, a few hours, maybe forever. Probably not long enough.”

“Not long enough for what, hypothermia to set it?” Cas immediately regretted asking another question when the hiss of gentle laugher steamed from your throat, emerging between you as a fading white puff. His jaw tersely clenched in defense, guarding against the further onslaught of inquiry threatening to emerge from his mouth.

“No, to forget,” you finally answered when your chuckle collapsed on itself dryly as a cough. Providing such nondescript answers was no way to deter the angel from further query – in fact, it veritably ensured his continued scrutiny.

He studied your strained aspect – the purple tinted skin darkening semi-circles beneath dull red-rimmed eyes, the pallor of your cheeks, the brittle cracked skin at the edges of your lips – his jaw abandoned the siege against his wagging tongue, “When was the last time you slept?”

You shrugged, leaden eyelids sinking shut to evade his fretted glare. You pivoted, intent on resuming your relentless trek into the night.

His fingers gently grasped at your shoulder in a manner suggesting he intended to fly you home.

“Don’t!” you flinched away from his well-meaning touch, spinning and stumbling backward. The last place you needed or wanted to be transported to right now was home – the deceptive comforts there taunting you with the promise of quiet restive sleep, yet repetitively delivering the same fitful terrifying torpor. You’d rather wander until morning – aimless, numb, and too exhausted to think. Although he made no further motion to fly you anywhere, your stubborn palm remained pressed flat to his chest, firmly keeping him at arm’s length.

Cas’ eyes narrowed into a baffled pair of gleaming blue crescent moons hung in the pitch black before you. “It’s not safe for you to be out here,” he tried to reason on behalf of your well-being, for which you presently seemed not to care.

“It’s not safe for me to be in here,” you snapped, harsher treatment than his wholly virtuous intentions deserved. Prodding a frigid fingertip at your temple, you sighed, “More monsters than I know what to do with in there.”

“I can help. Let me-”

“Please Cas, I just need to keep moving is all, okay?” you entreated. You didn’t want anyone interceding with your personal demons – didn’t want the angel to see your inner weakness, to know the depth of self-carnage scarring the recesses of your mind. What he might think, how he might judge you, panicked you nearly as much as the anxieties and nightmares themselves.

“Okay,” he reluctantly assented to your plea, “but at least let me…at least take this.” He removed his coat, shaking it out and shifting nearer to drape it snugly around your quivering frame. The radiant heat of his vessel lingered in the thick fabric, soothingly penetrating your skin with tingling warmth. He concentrated his entire focus on fidgeting with the lapels and buttons of the coat to straighten the oversized garment and protectively pull it fast around you – each tug at the seams inching you closer together.

“Thank you,” you caught at and stilled his fumbling fingers, peering appreciatively into his furrowed aspect.

Meeting your grateful gaze, he slipped his knuckles from your grasp to enclose your icy hands within his calloused palms. Hesitating, he searched for signs of resistance on your part as he brought your fingers to his lips, thawing them with a feather-light kiss.

At this proximity, despite the starless dim gloom of midnight’s embrace, you could make out every glint and sparkle of concern and fondness reflected for you in his enameled blue irises. Shrouded in his care, his coat, and his tender affection, you could remember little else but the solace now warming you to your very soul. Abolishing the space remaining between your bodies to lay your head upon his chest, you closed your weary eyes.


End file.
